Eric Eley

Photo courtesy Suyama Space

Eric Eley’s drawings, works on paper, and sculptures are informed by his fascination with the rational language used in physics and higher mathematics. His analytical use of lines and points allows him to arrange elements in space in order to provide a unique way of seeing. His materials are deceptively simple—string, wire, wood, dry pigment, graphite, resin. With these materials, the artist confronts the limitations of time, space, and physical effort while incorporating or discarding the benefits and drawbacks of those limitations. In his practice, Eley balances physical labor and intellectual work. He is truly an “analog” artist, one who physically moves in space, up and down a ladder, back and forth from wall to wall, rather than plotting elements on a computer screen. He is a thinker, delighting in the usually unseen connections that exist in any given atmosphere. His work is both landscape and architecture. Not a natural landscape but a landscape of articulated space. Not static architecture, but an exploded view of perspective and scale.

Eric’s work has been included in group shows in the Kunsthaus Hamburg and the Outdoor Sculpture Projects at Volta03 in Basel, Switzerland. He has also had solo shows at Gallery4Culture (Seattle, WA), the Hedreen Gallery at the Lee Center for the Arts (Seattle, WA) and the Kolva/Sullivan Gallery (Spokane, WA), Suyama Space (Seattle, WA), Art Agents Gallery (Hamburg, Germany). He mounted three solo shows at Platform Gallery when it was located in Pioneer Square in Seattle. He currently lives and works in Dallas, TX and he has been creating and directing the fabrication of multiple public artworks including two sculptures for the grounds of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Austin, TX.